Delaware’s first record Roseate Spoonbill (June 28,2009).
Here’s a reason to use Twitter: it can put you onto a rare bird faster than a New York minute!
The first Roseate Spoonbill ever to grace Delaware’s shores was observed the Sunday before my trip to Maryland. The bird—believed to be a first-year juvenile —was first observed in Fenwick Island (Assawoman Bay) in the extreme southeast corner of the state, close enough to the MD line to make MD listers green with envy (and hoping for a strong north wind).
Being from the Great Lakes, I knew nothing of this rarity. But as I neared southern Delaware, I happened to have a brief Twitter exchange with birder extraordinaire Jeff Gordon as I passed close to his hometown.
After asking him to peek over his fence and wave (metaphorically speaking) he immediately said, in 140 characters or less, “Howdy! You will be passing by a long-staying Black-bellied Whistling-Duck & Delaware’s 1st Roseate Spoonbill. Want info?”
Well, do ducks fly?
Roseate Spoonbill inhabits the warm waters of the Gulf Coast and its range extends to South America. The species is a colonial tree nester and uses its spoon-shaped bill to strain food from the water. This is another species whose populations were threatened in the late 1800s when its feathers were indiscriminately used to adorn ladies hats and fans. Luckily, conservation efforts made its population rebound, and it is no longer a threatened species.
The bird was only 15 minutes away, so on Sunday, June 28th, I followed Jeff’s excellent directions to the bird, which was hunkered down below some pines in a private residence just behind the Catch 54 Restaurant in Fenwick Island.
Sporting a pretty pink wash on its sides, the eyes of this young spoonbill beamed a clown-like innocence. In some photos, he is almost smiling…On site I ran into another birder, Dirk Robinson, who traveled from Pennsylvania. We watched the bird for an hour or more as it rested in the company of Canada Geese. We appreciated that it was tired after a long, wayward journey, but we also hoped it would alter its resting/preening posture long enough to see some field marks.
Suddenly, we were startled by the synchronous flush of wings. A large dog flushed the entire gaggle–including the spoonbill, which circled a few times before landing on an osprey platform. Luckily, the bird held some fidelity to its original spot and eventually returned. The scare didn’t affect the bird for long, and this gave us an opportunity to see it in flight.
At one point, the bird flew up into a pine tree, where it proceeded to nibble on cones and needles:
Maybe the spoonbill was enjoying the tasty sap or scraping its tongue? If you have any ideas, let me know.
On June 19th, Virginia recorded its first-ever Roseate Spoonbill in Augusta County. Could this be the same individual?
In any case, it was a privilege to see this wandering wader and I’m grateful to JeffGyr and to the network of birders on Twitter that makes spontaneous rare bird chases like this possible.
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Laura, That is great. Twitter has all the potential in the world to become a rare bird alert service. I wrote a blog post on this a while ago, and the idea is currently being investigated in Illinois and already started in Louisiana.
Check it out here:
http://www.kolibriexpeditions.com/birdingperu/blog/index.php/twitter-for-birders-part-2-rare-bird-alerts-with-twitter/
Saludos
Gunnar
In addition to the VA bird, there have been nearly a dozen reports of Spoonbill all up and down the North Carolina coast. It was only a matter of time they headed north.
So I wonder what conditions have led to this mini-mass movement of birds up the coast?
Gunnar, I agree with you. There’s exciting movement in this direction. Check out his link, Peeps.
It’s surprising to me that spoonbills are moving north this year, which by most reports is unusually cool in temperature.
I’ve also live tweeted – or maybe it was facebook – birding info in the wilds of west virginia, no less. I think some of the same usual suspects were involved.
Wren,
Live tweeting bird sightings is a total rush. You may have noticed I also like to live-tweet my mountain climbs on adventure trips. It’s a way to bring readers along and share the excitement of an adventure while it is happening.
It’ll be interesting to see how various groups or companies key into micro-blogging technology to enhance birding! I’ve written an article on this and related topics to be published in Fall. I will keep my Tweeps and blog readers posted on that.
Laura
Laura –
Ran across your Twitter profile accidentally. Great to see what you’ve been up to in recent years. I had the weird and amazing moment of seeing the 2nd DE spoonbill the other day along with 2 American White Pelicans at Thousand Acre Marsh! Cool blog.
Matt,
Good to hear from you! Small world! You have a nice website and it looks like you’re doing some really interesting work.
So what’s the scoop on the second spoonbill? How do they know it is a different individual? Where did you see it?
I saw two white pelicans in western NY last winter – it was good to see them but it was dark, rainy, and the birds’ heads were tucked under so I hardly would have known they were pelicans! And yep, there’s a post on that, too:
http://laurakammermeier.com/2009/04/white-pelicans-on/
(Next time I drive through DE I’ll Tweet ya’ if you promise to deliver a life bird. Deal?)
Laura
Hi Laura –
To answer your question about the spoonbills – the birds that showed up at Fowler Beach and 1000 acre Marsh were both much pinker than the Fenwick Island bird. In addition, the Fowler Beach bird was seen simultaneously while the Fenwick Island bird was being seen. However, the Fowler Beach bird disappeared before the 1000 Acre Marsh bird appeared, so it is very possible that those two were the same, pinker individual, moving north through the state.
Do you remember the 3 White Pelicans that hung out at May’s Point at Montezuma for what seemed like months many years ago? Thanks for the props on the site. It’s still very much a work in progress. I am doing everything myself, and learning as I go. Look forward to birding with you some time!
Matt